What is business process automation?

Business process automation, translated

In business process automation, a process is just a thing you do the same way every time. Taking an enquiry, chasing a quote, sending an invoice, booking somebody in.

Automating it means writing down the steps once and letting software run them, so they happen whether or not you remember. That is the whole idea.

It does not mean replacing anybody. In a small business it usually means the owner stops doing an hour of admin after tea.

Automation, RPA and workflow tools: the difference

Business process automation, often shortened to BPA, means automating a whole job from start to finish, such as an enquiry being answered, recorded and followed up without anybody touching it.

Robotic process automation, or RPA, is software that copies the clicks a person makes on a screen, and it suits large firms with old systems that cannot be connected any other way. Workflow tools such as Zapier sit in between, joining apps together with simple if this, then that rules.

For a small business the useful version is nearly always the first one, built around your actual jobs. The labels matter less than whether the job stops landing on you.

The enquiry that files itself

An automated enquiry arrives with everything you need to reply already attached, and it is recorded so nothing gets lost between your inbox and your notebook.

You get a message on your phone. They get an acknowledgement straight away, which is often the difference between them waiting for you and ringing the next name on the list.

The follow up that goes out on its own

A quote nobody chases turns into a no, without anybody ever saying no. The follow up two days later is the job most owners mean to do, and then a job comes in.

An automated follow up just happens. You write it once, in your own words, and it goes out on time whether you are on a job or on holiday.

This is the job automation does at scale for Tommie Courier Services: more than 17,000 leads followed up automatically on WhatsApp, and over 8,700 replies back from them.

The reminder that stops a no show

An automated reminder the day before puts the appointment back in front of somebody who has stopped thinking about it. Done by hand it is a job somebody has to remember, and done automatically it never gets forgotten.

The same mechanism handles rebooking. A customer who came in three months ago can be asked whether they want another slot without anybody making the call, which is why reminders come built into a good website booking system.

The admin that answers itself

Automated answers work because every business gets asked the same handful of questions: where are you, what does it cost, how soon can you do it, do you cover my area.

Those answers can live on your website and in your automatic replies, so the question gets answered the moment it is asked. That means fewer interruptions for you and a faster answer for them.

The report that writes itself

An automated report tells you which pages bring the work, how many enquiries came in and where they came from. That is the difference between deciding and guessing.

Pulled together automatically and sent to you in plain English, it takes a couple of minutes to read and tells you where to put the next bit of money.

The quote that goes out the same day

A slow quote is rarely about ability. It is about the message arriving while you are up a ladder, and the next one on their list not being up a ladder.

A lot of a quote can be prepared automatically: the enquiry arrives with the answers you need, the standard wording is already written, and what is left for you is the number and the send.

The reply that lands first is the one that gets read while they are still looking, and automation is the cheapest way to make it yours.

Invoices that chase themselves

Chasing unpaid invoices is an easy job to put off. Automated, the reminder goes out on the due date, again a week later and again after that, in your words and without you having to remember.

GOV.UK says that where no payment date was agreed, a business payment is late 30 days after the invoice or the work, whichever is later. After that you can charge statutory interest of 8 per cent plus the Bank of England base rate, and an automated reminder can say so politely and on time.

Is this job worth automating?

A job is worth automating when it passes four checks: it happens at least every week, it follows the same steps each time, it involves copying information from one place to another, and forgetting it costs you money or a customer.

A job that fails the checks, such as a quote that needs real judgement or a conversation that needs a person, is better left with a person. Automation can still take the repetitive part around it, like gathering the details first.

How to start automating, step by step

Write the job down exactly as it happens today, including the bits that live in your head. Then mark the steps that only move information around, because those are the ones software can take.

Build that one job, run it alongside the old way for a week or two, and switch over once it is right. Only then pick the next job, so each one is proven before you rely on it.

Workflow tools or a built automation

Off the shelf workflow tools are a good way to join two apps for a simple job, such as copying a form entry into a spreadsheet. They charge by the month or by the number of tasks, and they get fiddly when a job has several steps or exceptions.

A built automation follows your job exactly, including the awkward cases, with no per task fee. Once a job matters enough to rely on, that is the version worth having, and it is what we build.

Where to start with automation

The best first job to automate is the one you do most often and like the least. You will notice the day it stops.

Automation with Fixr Systems starts from £1,000, with the exact price for your project fixed in a written quote before anything begins. We build one piece that does one job properly, you see it working, and then you decide whether there is a second, often inside a custom CRM.